English superstar Adam Ramsay-Peaty has broken down in tears after being outgunned by Australian Sam Williamson in the 100m breaststroke final at the Commonwealth Games.
Ramsay-Peaty, who is still the world record holder in the event, was consigned to a bronze medal in the biggest upset of the Glasgow swim meet so far.
Williamson and Filip Nowacki, an 18-year-old from Jersey, finished ahead of the man who went within a whisker of a third consecutive Olympic 100m breaststroke crown in Paris.
The Commonwealth Games has not been kind to Ramsay-Peaty, who finished out of the medals at Birmingham 2022.
Since the 2022 Games, Ramsay-Peaty has taken time out to protect his mental health and also endured a high-profile family schism following his marriage to Holly Ramsay, daughter of the celebrity chef Gordon, in December.
Ramsay-Peaty reached into the crowd to kiss his pregnant wife's tummy shortly after the end of his race.
"It's hard because I know how hard I work," he told reporters.
"I know the shit I've been through, which is no fault of my own, but it does take its toll.
"I'm not crying because it's bronze instead of gold. I'm crying because I know I am better than that.
"I feel like I couldn't have put any more in and that's where it hurts, because I'm like 'what's the point of all the metres every day, what's the point of being exhausted all the time'?
"'What's the point of having to say no to family events because you can't go to training'?
"It has to mean something and for me it has to be human excellence and that is not excellence for me. So that's the emotion that is unfortunately coming out."
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The result was all the more surprising given the way in which Ramsay-Peaty had surged through his heats on Friday.
Cheered on by his fiancee Holly in the stands, Ramsay-Peaty was in third place at the halfway stage and could not make up the deficit, his time of 59.65 seconds well behind Williamson's 59.17.
"She's always going to be proud of me and I think as a father, it doesn't matter if you come home with a gold, as long as you come home with a teddy," smiled Ramsay-Peaty.
"The emotion is something I'm always going to carry.
"I'm never going to be afraid to show weakness because it's so important in making stronger people, making stronger men, stronger fathers, stronger husbands, and it's a realisation of how hard I work."
with PA
